Conventionally a laced shoe employs a single elongated lace threaded from the bottom of the shoe's collar through two rows of equally spaced apart eyelets located on opposite sides of the shoe's tongue. The two ends of the lace are pulled tight and tied in a bow to secure the shoe to the foot.
Each time the shoe is removed, the two ends of the lace are untied and the lace is loosened from its tied position so that the shoe can be slipped off the foot.
Then when the shoe is to be worn, the lace is loosened between several of the eyelets to enable the shoe to be comfortably slipped onto the foot, the two ends of the lace are then pulled to take up the slack in the lace and the two ends are tied together.
Often times, especially with athletic or sportswear shoes used for running, tennis, basketball and other athletic events, the lace must be carefully adjusted to effect the proper tension of the tied lace and the shoe onto the foot. This takes time and requires an individual readjustment of the length of the lace between eyelets each time the shoe is put onto the foot.
My invention is uniquely designed to be attached to the laces of any footwear and it allows the user to tighten or loosen the shoe's fit over the foot in a single smooth motion. My invention which I call SNAPS.TM. thereby eliminates the present time-consuming need to adjust individual laces to achieve the necessary fit. While my invention may be used with most laced footwear styles, its primary market is in the sportswear field.
The SNAPS.TM. is a two-part clip with a hinge-like configuration and comprising a lower clip base joined at its front edge to an upper clip lever by a ball and socket type connection which closes with a swivel motion. A series of holes acting as eyelets are incorporated within both the clip base and clip lever which correspond with the eyelets on the shoe's collar. These holes allow the shoe lace to be threaded directly from the shoe's corresponding eyelets, thereby attaching and securing both the clip base and the clip lever to opposite sides of the shoe's collar.
In order to join the clip lever to the clip base, the clip lever and attached laces are mechanically transversed over the tongue of the shoe and the balled edge of the clip lever is inserted into the slotted edge of the clip base. The clip lever is then folded over, thereby taking up the lace slack, and secured by means of a male-female snapping mechanism such as a velcro flap on the clip base folded over and pressed onto a velcro patch on the clip lever. SNAPS.TM. is designed to be a one-handed operation.
The preferred velcro flap and patch serves as an additional safety measure against accidental disengagement. However, none of the lace tension is directly supported by the velcro flap.
The amount of tension required for SNAPS.TM. to perform its function is predetermined during the initial fitting, when the lace is fed through the clip base and the clip lever following the lace routing directions. The lace slack is quickly and conveniently removed when SNAPS.TM. is placed in its closed position.